A Russian court has rescheduled the closed-door trial of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich at the request of his defense team, the independent news website Mediazona reported Tuesday, citing the court’s press service.
The Sverdlovsk Regional Court in the city of Yekaterinburg was originally scheduled to resume hearings in the espionage case against Gershkovich on Aug. 13, but as Mediazona writes, the trial will now be held on Thursday.
The Wall Street Journal correspondent and former reporter for The Moscow Times became the first Western journalist to be arrested in Russia on spying charges since the Cold War after he was detained during a reporting trip in March 2023.
Gershkovich faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years if he is convicted of spying, accusations that both he and his employer deny. His trial began in June — 15 months following his arrest.
The United States considers Gershkovich to be “wrongfully detained,” meaning it effectively regards him as a political hostage. So, too, has The Wall Street Journal slammed the accusations of espionage as “bogus.”
The Kremlin claims to have caught Gershkovich “red-handed” but has otherwise not made any details of his case public. Russia’s prosecutor general last month accused Gershkovich of working for the CIA and “collecting secret information” about tank maker Uralvagonzavod in the Sverdlovsk region where he was arrested.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested he is open to a prisoner exchange with the United States involving Gershkovich. After the trial opened last month, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said U.S. officials “should still seriously consider the signals that they in Washington received through the relevant channels.”
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